Around the NFL: It may mean little, but it's always something when Browns meet Jags

Saturday

Nov 30, 2013 at 6:03 PM

You wouldn't guess it by looking at the 2013 season, but Browns vs. Jaguars may be the most fascinating rivalry of either team's expansion era.

Steve Doerschuk CantonRep.com sports writer @sdoerschukREP

This is where football goes pfffft, when networks televise games because courts enforce contracts.

Two hanging chads in the 2013 campaign, 4-7 vs. 2-9.

No winning seasons between them since Grady Sizemore was a rising baseball star.

Zero appearances in any Super Bowl.

Two of the four most recent expansion teams, adrift.

One can make the case that Jacksonville at Cleveland is a nothing game. Tune in, just in case.

This series has been something. Behold some of the games they have played.

• Oct. 22, 1995, in Ohio. Less than three months after Jacksonville debuted in Canton as a first-year expansion team, the Jaguars beat a Browns team coming off a playoff season. The Browns fell to 3-5. The bloom was off the Belichick.

• Dec. 24, 1995, in Florida. A matter of days after the game just mentioned, the awful news broke: The Browns were being hijacked to Baltimore. The Christmas Eve game at Jacksonville was the last one played by the original Browns. It was a grim-as-could-be 24-21 loss to the Jags.

• Dec. 19, 1999, in Ohio. Tom Coughlin's Jaguars were all grown up, on their way to a 14-2 finish. The Browns were back, with Coughlin's former offensive coordinator, Chris Palmer, as their head coach.

Cleveland came in with a 2-12 record but put up a good fight, even after a Tony Brackens sack left No. 1 overall draft pick Tim Couch with a broken leg in the closing moments of the first half.

Shortly before Couch went down, the Browns had the ball, driving away from the Dawg Pound, when referee Jeff Triplette caught guard Jeff Bundren in a false start. Triplette put too much mustard on the flag as he threw it ... into the eye of Orlando Brown.

The 350-pound right tackle became furious, staggering around in a rage, eventually pushing Triplette to the ground. The crowd was going ballistic even before more penalty flags flew toward Brown.

A serious eye injury knocked Brown out of football, and he did not play again until 2003. Brown, known as "Zeus," died in 2011.

The Browns lost the game 24-14.

• Dec. 3, 2000, in Florida. It doesn't take much to get Tom Brady to sarcastically recall that in the 2000 draft he was drafted after the Browns spent a Round 6 pick on quarterback Spergon Wynn.

Wynn's career as an NFL starter included exactly one start, in this game.

His first series was promising. He handed off to Travis Prentice for a 17-yard gain. Then he scrambled up the middle for 27 yards.

It was downhill from there. He passed for 17 yards in a 48-0 defeat that sealed Palmer's fate.

• Dec. 16, 2001, in Ohio. The game was a sellout, and there were no empty seats. The Browns were in a dogfight against Jacksonville with a chance to improve to 7-6.

That record would have been great in 2013, but in 2001 it was the cusp of playoff elimination. The mood grew desperate when Mike Hollis kicked a field goal to give Jacksonville a 15-10 lead with three minutes left.

But wait. There went Couch, passing the Browns to a fourth-and-2 at the Jacksonville 12 with a minute left.

Couch seemed to complete a pass to Quincy Morgan for a first down. A euphoric roar turned angry when Morgan was ruled to have lost control.

Debris began to fly from the Dawg Pound. Soon it rained from all quadrants as the officiating crew sprinted the length to the exit tunnels, bobbing and weaving.

Jacksonville's tainted 15-10 victory is remembered as "Bottlegate."

• Dec. 8, 2002, in Florida. The Browns were on the verge of falling to 6-7 — playoff death.

Jacksonville led 17-14 with 90 seconds left and the Browns pinned in a second-and-22 on their own 31. It was hopeless when Couch threw an interception, leading to a field goal.

Couch had only 47 seconds, good field position, and no timeouts. Time was almost gone when, from the 50, Couch heaved up a prayer that landed in Quincy Morgan's hands with triple- zeroes on the clock.

The 21-20 victory led to a playoff spot.

AND THERE'S MORE

From 1999-2001, the Browns and Jaguars faced each other twice a year, as fellow members of the AFC Central. Realignment in 2002 ended the regular rivalry, but the teams are crossing paths for the sixth time in the last nine seasons.

The more recent games usually have meant something, albeit not always anything conventional.

• In 2008, winning 23-17 at Jacksonville had Romeo Crennel on a 3-1 hot streak, offsetting an 0-3 start. There was hope the previous year's 10-6 finish wasn't a fluke. It was soon gone, and so was Crennel.

• On Jan. 3, 2009, beating the Jags 23-17 gave Eric Mangini a fourth straight win to finish the season. A loss would have given him a 4-12 record, and maybe new president Mike Holmgren would have fired him.

• On Nov. 21, 2010, Peyton Hillis caught six passes for 95 yards to help build a lead, but Colt McCoy kept playing on a sprained ankle and the game got away. So did Mangini's job, partly because this loss wrecked any playoff hopes.

• On Nov. 20, 2011, the Browns stalled quarterback Blaine Gabbert just short of the goal line in the final seconds. A 14-10 win put Pat Shurmur at 4-6, which, looking back, is where he peaked.

The Jaguars are back in town. A win puts the Browns at 5-7, for what that's worth.

The entertainment value in this series usually has been worth ... something.